Have you ever wondered what the largest sporting events in Utah are? We’ve compiled two lists – one for the most attended sporting events in Utah and another for the most watched TV sports programs in Utah. We use these lists to evaluate sports sponsorships and to buy TV packages in general.

7 Most Attended Sporting Events in Utah

Utah Jazz – 19.8% of all Utahns reported attending a game in the last year.

There are a lot of words in the English language, but even the thickest of dictionaries doesn’t contain all of the words we need to describe the ever changing technological landscape. So what do we do? Make up new words of course! Here are the top 10 words that have been added to the English language due to technological advancements in recent history.

Clickbait

I wrote a blog post with a clickbait headline and you’ll never believe what happened next! We’ve all experienced the pains of the clickbait. It’s an article with a headline that is so beyond tempting that we can’t resist clicking on it. When we do take the bait, we quickly discover that the article on the other end of the tantalizing link is sensationalized and more often than not, pointless.

404

404 is a common error found on the internet wherein the content you are trying to access cannot be found. This is usually caused by a broken link or some kind of server error. Either way, 404 Page Not Found is probably one of the most prominent and common errors on the web. It quickly caught on as a fun way to say something or someone is missing. When used in the right context, “404” is more of a meme than an error message.

Wearables

Technology is like a virus in that it is constantly trying to find ways to infiltrate every facet of our lives. Currently, technology that we can wear, from watches to glasses, is the latest craze. These sorts of devices, fitness trackers and even wedding rings that heat up on your anniversary, are called wearables. Here are some of our thoughts on wearable tech.

Catfish

This isn’t much of a technology term, but it certainly has seen a rise in usage of late. The term refers to the practice of Norwegian fisherman who add a single catfish to their tank of sardines (or other fish) in order to keep them physically active. This practice was used as an analogy in a documentary (Catfish) detailing a woman who used online profiles to fake her identity in order to pursue a romantic online relationship with a man who otherwise wouldn’t have been interested in her. Based on the documentary, the term “catfish” was born. It is used to refer to someone who pretends to be a different person online in order to score dates in real life. Essentially, it’s like using a 5-year-old photo of when you were 30-pounds thinner for your dating profile, only worse.

Big Data

The word “big data” has actually been around for a while, but only recently has it seen more use. Big data refers to data that is so monstrously huge that traditional methods of organizing and translating the data cannot be used. Complex algorithms and super nerdy formulas are typically what is required to decipher this kind of big data.

E-Waste

E-waste is a shortened form of electronic waste. No, this isn’t referring to all that junk email in your spam folder, this literally means your old computers, printers and even cell phones that you want to throw away.

Gamification

Gamification is a really fun word that means adding interactivity to otherwise mundane content. For example, gamification could be adding user input to an online banner ad or it could mean providing badges and goals for an online tracking tool. You’re taking something lame and making it fun through gaming principles. We wrote an article on this exact topic about a year ago. You can check it out here.

Ping

Ping is the imaginary sound your computer makes when it sends a signal out to a server and then waits for a response. Ping is typically used to measure the speed of your connection and is measured in milliseconds. For example, a ping of 50ms would mean that there is a 50ms delay between the moment you click on a link on your computer and the moment that webpage recognizes and responds to that click.

Upvote/Downvote

Upvoting and downvoting is a popular mechanic used on social media websites like Reddit. An upvote could be equated to a “like” from Facebook, where as a downvote would be a “dislike.” Every post on sites where this mechanic is used takes the total upvotes and downvotes and gives a post a total score (+1 for upvotes, -1 for downvotes). The higher your score, the more prominently your post will be featured.

Lamestream

Finally, this fun term is simply a new way of negatively referring to the “mainstream.” Get it? Because “main” and “lame” are improper rhymes. What will the kids come up with next?

And there you have it. 10 words that have somehow worked themselves into the dictionary (some were added to the Oxford Dictionary just this last May!). What do you think? Did I forget any words? Let me know in the comments below.

We often are sharing the good news with our clients of awards won on their behalf, so it was especially nice to get the news that we were being honored.

Penna Powers was awarded the 2015 Salt Lake Chamber Corporate Partner of the Year this week. The recognition was earned for its extra-mile efforts supporting the public policy initiatives of the Chamber, especially as they pertain to the Salt Lake Chamber’s public policy efforts with the Utah Transportation Coalition.

“It’s a privilege to work with the Salt Lake Chamber and the Utah Transportation Coalition on the important issue of transportation,” said David L. Smith, Penna Powers president and managing partner. “The Chamber’s leadership in advocating transportation investment is critical to the future of Utah’s economy, environment and the quality of life we all enjoy. Working with them has been a great opportunity to experience firsthand the great things our business community can accomplish when we work together.”

The Corporate Partner of the Year Award honors one organization in the community that has influenced the Chamber’s mission in the past year showing exemplary support by committing time and abilities to bolster the business community. The Award was presented during the Salt Lake Chamber’s 128th Annual Meeting. Initiated in 2013, the Corporate Partner of The Year award was previously awarded to Wells Fargo (2013) and Hilton Salt Lake City Center (2014).

The Salt Lake Chamber has a membership of more than 8,000 businesses employing more than 500,000 people in Utah. Founded in April 1887, it is Utah’s largest and longest-standing business association. Penna Powers has been an active member and supporter of the Salt Lake Chamber since its early beginnings and was honored with the Salt Lake Chamber Small Business of the Year Award in 2009.

As a full-service communications firm we are driven by strategy, creativity and technology. For more than 30 years we’ve started conversations that define an issue or opportunity, and then deliver big ideas to help clients solve tough challenges, change perception and encourage action. Our integrated advertising, public relations, social media and public engagement campaigns have helped build some of Utah’s most respected local brands and organizations including the Salt Lake Chamber.

One month after Instagram opened advertising to small and mid-size agencies Penna Powers had the opportunity to launch test campaigns for both sponsored posts and videos. These campaigns tested various demographics in the non-profit/government and retail verticals. Both tests allowed us to successfully engage the designated audiences, driving website clicks, brand awareness and engagements. But most importantly, the campaigns provided Instagram advertising metrics for us to share with the world.

Storytelling is what Instagram does best, add in Facebook’s excellent targeting capabilities and your brand story can now be seen by the exact audience you’re seeking. Our campaigns set out targeting two very different audiences, teenagers (13-17) in the non-profit/government campaign and M/F (18+) in the retail campaign. The wide audience in the retail vertical was chosen to allow us to gauge a true CPM benchmark based on a large demographic segment. We were curious to see if Instagram’s estimated CPM of $13 held true or if our campaigns would come in much higher, even or much lower. Both campaign results are listed below presenting a much lower CPM in both instances by a healthy margin. The non-profit/government campaign also presented interesting data that teenagers will actively engage with Instagram content even though studies are showing a migration to other social media channels such as Snapchat. The wide audience in the retail vertical aligned with established Instagram data with the millennial audience outperforming all other segments of the target demographic. Instagram advertising is uniquely positioned to help push Facebook even further ahead of Twitter and Google in the social advertising front.

We look to Facebook to begin tying in retargeting between the two ad platforms serving ads to the audience members who may have interacted with one on Facebook or Instagram presenting an opportunity for marketers to have even better data and more audience touch points. At the end of the day social media is all about engagements with the line between a website click and a comment blurring every day. The new advertising opportunity has brought about change within our own Social Media Department with the team shifting dollars almost immediately from Twitter to Instagram because of the superior ad products and the fact that Instagram blows away Twitter engagements.

There is so much data out there. We need to use it when we’re making decisions about the future. This is how Pamela Perlich, Ph.D. and senior research economist for the Bureau of Economic and Business Research at the University of Utah, recently began to unfold a demographic transformation in Utah in the form of data mainly from the 1960s to now.

She showed how Utah has always had unique demographics compared to the nation but is trending in the same direction. What is transforming?

Diversity – Utah and the rest of the nation are becoming more multi-cultural. The majority of U.S. births became minorities in 2010.

Social Change – A lot of young people are moving to the state so millennials now exceed baby boomers. Millennials bring social change by exploring new ways of doing things.

Economics – New and different jobs came out of the recession. Many high-wage jobs were lost and low-wage jobs were created.

While these are broad descriptions, the details, along with overwhelming amounts of additional information are part of a project Dr. Perlich leads. It’s called the Utah Community Data Project (UCDP) and all of the data is accessible to anyone with Internet access who can type ucdp.utah.edu. It is described on the website as an online system of community-level demographic, housing and socioeconomic data, indicators and profiles. It is a way to help anyone in Utah make more informed decisions as Perlich encourages.

Among the Joe Shmos or policymakers who could within a reasonable amount of time dig up the native languages of Salt Lake City school district students or Ogden’s demographic and housing information, Utah communicators could benefit from the UCDP information.

Communicators should be constantly aware of their varied Utah audiences and how they are changing. They should also plan their campaigns based on research. So when you begin to conceptualize your next campaign see if you can find some of the information you need at ucdp.utah.edu to help save on research costs and make more informed decisions about goals, strategies and tactics. The data is there for the taking.

We’ll take any chance we get to pit the Cougars versus the Utes in a friendly office competition. Utah Food Bank’s Summer Food and Fund Drive gave us the perfect excuse to see what team truly is top dog.